Here’s some goddamn fine woodsy, melodically aggressive black metal from the deep, dank forests of Virginia.  First up, Bearstorm are signed to Grimoire Records, so that’s practically a blood-stamped seal of quality right there.  Secondly, these badasses have an interesting approach to the genre that’s hard for me to put a claw on.  They remind […]

The veteran collective of assorted talents comprising the band VHOL cooked up an impressive self-titled debut in 2013. However, like any band assembled in this fashion there was always a hint of uncertainty about whether it would wind up as another short lived entity as the members returned to their main projects, or remain the […]

Ævangelist will always hold a special place in my metal heart. The first review I ever wrote was for their 2012 debut, De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis, and I’ve covered every full-length that they’ve done since. Putting their inhuman sounds into words hasn’t been easy, but I’ve enjoyed the challenge. This fourth full-length in as […]

There’s been some pretty odd band names this year (Mutilatred, Dysrider,  Famishgod, Meatwound, Neurotic November, Weak Aside). There has also been some fine old school Swedish death metal (Morbid Vomit, Wombath, Mass Burial, Entrails, Abscession, Infected Chaos, Skelethal, Feral, Cult of Endtime). Belgium’s Torturerama have the honor of being on both lists. However, it’s the second one they might […]

I’ve been having a hard time putting words to paper about the fourth album from Germany’s Thormesis. You see, when Freier Wille – Freier Geist, (Free will- Free Spirit) is actually playing, I’m enjoying the hell out of its super melodic, sometimes black n roll , airy, bouncy take on black metal. To the point where I’m […]

Dave Rotten’s Xtreem Music Label is one of the very best around, especially for his stellar reissues.  So Famishgod is a side project he is lending his guttural vocals to and Pako Deimler is playing all the instruments which also includes the drum machine programming.  Famishgod play an ultra heavy down tuned form of doom/death […]

Season of Mist’s artist dichotomy has changed a lot over the last couple of years.  Adding killer cult riff slingers Kylesa, Floor, Hark (ex-members of underrated UK doom/thrashers Taint), Weedeater and Saint Vitus has certainly deepened the label’s moat and fortified its already armored bunker.  The imprint’s latest riff-heavy signing, Wildlights, features guitarist/vocalist Jason Chi […]

It’s pretty much a given that I’m going to be all about anything that either Erik Burke or Dan Lilker put their hands to; they being two of my all-time favorite grindcore musicians. This is even moreso in light of the disbanding of Brutal Truth at the end of last year, which left a huge […]

Expiation, the debut from Italy’s Synapses was a fine slab of controlled tech death metal that focused much more on deliberate grooves and shuddering rhythms rather than the sheer tech death onslaught of many of their peers (Hour of Penance, Logic of Denial etc). Now, three years later, Devoutness has dropped, and while the focus is […]

  The problem with the modern thrash scene is too many bands are relying on the nostalgia of the genre’s ‘80s heyday instead of forging their own path forward. Naturally there are exceptions, but most decent modern thrash bands tend to hybridize with other styles to create something unique and noteworthy. I might sound a […]

More likely than not, you have already decided if you will like or purchase Deafheaven’s new album, regardless of this review. Am I right? I mean, you either loathed or loved 2013’s watershed album, Sunbather (full disclosure – it was my top pick for the year), or you simply don’t care for the band’s style, the ‘hipster’ […]

New Yorkers White Widows Pact show a complete lack of concern for the listener throughout the 10 burly, bull-balled face slams and turnpike jams of their destructive debut True Will.  Screaming strep-throat vocals, continent devouring rhythmic grinds, sludgy grooves, hardcore beatdowns, thrash-y malevolence and death metal technicalities collide in a violent mosh pit frenzy that […]

Meatwound’s Addio is a bulldozing bludgeon of an album, taking a lot of elements of arty noise rock, hardcore, industrial, proto-sludge, and some of the noisier extreme metal of the 80s and 90s. This is all congealed into some sort of gelatinous mass of general nastiness and bad feelings, which Meatwound then force feeds you […]

It still amazes me just how vast our little rabbit hole in the field of human culture really is. I’ve been crawling through it for over two decades now and I’m still constantly discovering great bands that I missed along the way. Such is the case with Poland’s Disloyal. The group formed back in ‘97 […]

Sometimes when I go to listen to my favorite music, I look for what is going to make me move, to make me jump up and down or to latch onto the aggression, the primal energy put forth by the raw power bursting forth from the speakers. Other times tho, it’s good to step back […]

I won’t rehash the love already shown by this site to France’s tech death masters Gorod and their prior albums. You can see our previous gushing, by myself and Jordan Itkowitz, right here. The question I have for you, loyal reader, is this: can death metal, specifically tech death metal, be happy? Playful, even? We know […]

There’s been a significant amount of buzz circulating around Colorado doom merchants Khemmis and their debut album Absolution. The doom resurgence has been in full swing in recent years, with the genre’s status increasingly elevated by the likes of contemporary behemoths Pallbearer, Ufomammut and Yob, along with stellar 2015 releases from the traditional revivalist doom […]

This is Behold! the Monolith’s first release since Vocalist/Bassist Kevin Dade was tragically killed in a car accident a couple years back; not too long after releasing their sophomore album, Defender, Redeemist. That album was a pretty solid slab of whatever you call their punky/doomy/sludgy/thrashy/modern/traditional heavy metal; and an album that showed a lot of […]

Man, this is THE shit.  This is like a long lost high school reunion for my ears.  Chris Chiera swingin’ axe (he the man behind Sofa King Killer’s purely classic guitar sound), Aaron Brittain kickin’ the cans (his hard hits have been missed since the Fistula days) and bassist Adam Horwatt (So Long Albatross) keeps […]

So all we need now in 2015 is a release from Anathema, and have it return to the Crestfallen/Serenades sound and all will be right with the world, right? In fairness, while Paradise Lost, one third of the seminal UK doom triumvirate received much deserved praise for The Plague Within,  and rightfully lauded for a ‘return’ to form, […]

I am not a hater of Ghost. I happen to love their prior albums, actually.  A lot of people jumped on the hateorade train thinking that Ghost were just an elaborate hoax of a band.  I’m not one of those.  I mean, how can a classic metalhead slag a band that has influences ranging from Mercyful Fate and Blue […]

Panzerkruezer’s Aurora deliver us crushing war inspired death metal ala Bolt Thrower, Just Before Dawn, or Hail of Bullets.  Based on the cover art alone there isn’t much question that, surprise, the drapes match the carpet.  The three piece are based in Dresden, Germany.  Dresden is infamous for having been leveled after what is likely […]

Atmospheric black metal is perfectly fine as a descriptor, but what it should really be called is headphones black metal. Strap on a pair of your best reality-blockers, close your eyes, and get lost in a blizzard of sound and fury. Mare Cognitum released a perfect experience with Phobos Monolith, my #1 pick for 2014. […]

With the shrapnel of a crushing drum beat kicking off the record and then immediately veering off the side of a mountain into a piercing, minor key guitar drone that lasts for nearly 45 breathless seconds (all music is usurped by said drone), it’s beyond a shadow of a doubt that California quintet Fell to […]

Not content with dropping the reissue of debut, Winterborn on us earlier this year, former Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon founder Tuomas Saukkonen is already dropping his new project’s second album on us to fuck up 2015 year end lists everywhere. Whereas the template of the music is still heavily rooted in his past along […]